Page 32 - Banking Finance July 2021

ARTICLE

countries are not monetized in developing countries. The Economic conduit designed to help out the poor to drain the
cause behind the same is due to scarcity of dispensable poverty from within. It is believed by the experts that
income. Last two decades have witnessed microfinance as microfinance can facilitate the way to reduce the poverty
sector to satisfy the unmet demands of the poor, isolated figures of the Indian economy, empowering the lady power
group at a large scale. and raise the standard of living. The statistics of providing
bank accounts to adult population across the country
Specifically emphasizing about the women entrepreneurs, through Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in 2014
microfinance has created platform for them to start and was one of the initiatives towards financial inclusion. The
explore the potential of their skills and talents. It is not only reach of mobile phones and e-KYC has ensured these
creating jobs for women but also opens the door for accounts are accessible to those who have been included in
investment, savings, educating wards and also setting the financial services milieu.
example for others. According to a joint report by Bain &
Company and Google, Women in entrepreneurship can In rural sector mostly people rely on local lenders to meet
generate 150-170 million jobs in India, which is more than their financial needs. So to penetrate the unbanked areas
25 percent of the new jobs required for the entire working regulatory authorities and government has ensured flow of
age population by 2030. credit to productive sectors and banking services to all
eligible in the country.
The report titled "Women Entrepreneurship in India-
Powering the economy with her" has found that of the 432 With the integration of traditional banking and digital
million women in working age, about 343 million are not access, the reach of financial services in the dispersed areas
paid formal workers. An estimated 324 million of these is made possible. Branch correspondent framework played
women are not in labour force, and another 19 million are pivotal role towards enhancing access to banking services.
in the labour force but are not employed. The report With all these measures, the number of banking outlets in
suggests that in addition to job creation by private and villages has gone up significantly. Financial inclusion is
government sectors, entrepreneurship is an untapped becoming a focus area for banks, NBFCs, Financial
opportunity for working age women in India. Technology (FinTechs) and other financial entities. Small
Finance Banks have also been set up to further financial
There has been growth of about 6 percent from existing 14 inclusion with a client base comprising mainly of migrant
percent to 20 percent in context of women-owned labour workforce, low income households, small businesses
enterprises. The structure of women owned enterprises in and other unorganized sector entities. Today, when it comes
India are largely single person type which results to lower to financial inclusion and microfinance, there are several
returns and employment. The report also states that women
enterprises are often over represented in numbers as survey
across parts of India suggest that 10-30 percent "women-
owned" enterprises are often not run by women.

Women's Labour force in India is among the lowest bands
in the world. 75% of Indian women of economically active
age are not engaged in formal and paid work today. The
real scenario is that total share of enterprises that are truly
owned and run by women is lower than 20 percent. The
report suggests that an all-States efforts focused on enabling
women entrepreneurs to start up and scale could increase
direct employment by around 50-60 million people and
increase indirect and induced employment of 100-110
million by 2030.

32 | 2021 | JULY | BANKING FINANCE